


The Sound of Silence

by huangjinguo



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Deaf Character, M/M, this is cheesy af
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-09
Updated: 2019-07-08
Packaged: 2020-04-23 09:33:57
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 15,653
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19148338
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/huangjinguo/pseuds/huangjinguo
Summary: Yifan is a graduate at Peking University and has a problem. Yixing might be the answer to it.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> My friend (soapbubblesoul here on AO3, she is sitting right NEXT TO ME as we speak lololol) pushed me to cross-post this to AO3 because apparently, I haven't... and because I am way too stupid to import everything, I will just update this weekly. Maybe I will edit it also a bit, but don't get your hopes up too high, lol!
> 
> I wrote this in 2015, so prepare for shitty grammar, shitty formatting (I formatted A BIT to have at least half proper paragraphs but I really cannot be bothered to change anything else lol), and overall not the greatest execution of an idea that I am actually pretty proud of.
> 
> Also... it's cheesy as fuck. I skimmed through it and almost died of embarrassment.
> 
> Updates every week, because I don't want to cross-post every chapter today. I'm a lazy piece of shit.

**Prologue**

It was one of those lazy Sundays where you crawled out of bed in the late morning, only to stroll to the sofa, have a bowl of cereals and watch TV the whole day. If you were productive, you’d maybe take a shower and change into a clean set of pajamas, but that was about it. Yifan had managed to just do that – his hair was still a little damp as he plopped onto the couch of his boyfriend, who had spent most of the morning in front of his newest painting. His arms were covered in blue and red paint, something which always happened when he worked on his stuff. Yifan had learned not to interrupt him, especially not when Yixing had this concentrated expression on his face as he did now. A jazz song that Yifan had never heard before filled up the room, in a moderate volume, just right for a day like this. The one on the sofa watched the artist for a while until the song had stopped and silence filled the air. Only a few minutes later Yixing seemed to realize the CD had stopped playing. He looked up in confusion.  
  
“It’s finished already?” he asked and hovered over to the stereo to change the disk.  
  
“You could just press on ‘repeat’ you know,” Yifan suggested.  
  
“Nah, there’s still so much more to listen to,” Yixing replied without looking at him.  
  
Two years ago, he had started to buy any piece of music he could get his hands on. He could’ve also just downloaded everything on Baidu or iTunes, but Yixing preferred the physical copies and he liked the sound of the old stereo that he bought on Taobao made much more than the speakers of his laptop. He chose the CD of a young female artist from New Zealand, and as soon as the first song started playing, he went back to his painting.  
  
“Yixing?”  
  
“Hm?”  
  
“What’s your favorite sound?”  
  
Yixing lowered the brush that he had just picked up and looked at Yifan, obviously in deep thought. After a while, he smiled and said:  
  
“I really like the sound of brushes stroking against canvases. I don’t know. It’s just really nice and relaxing.”  
  
Yifan smiled. That was so typical for his boyfriend. He’d find the beauty in small details that others would never even notice.  
  
“Oh. Yeah. And your voice. Especially in the morning when you’re still sleepy.”  
  
“You’re just saying that!”  
  
“No, I mean it. It’s just a few moments, but when you wake up and say ‘Good Morning’ your voice is very different from the rest of the day. And it’s just the right sound to wake up to for me.”  
  
“Eww, cheesy!” Yifan shot at him, but Yixing’s statement made his stomach flutter in joy.  
  
“You asked, stop acting like you don’t like it.” the other one replied, made a final brush stroke and took a last look at his current project before he nodded in satisfaction and put his utensils down.  
  
After he had washed off the paint on his arms, he joined Yifan on the couch who pulled him into a hug and buried his nose in his hair. Yixing smelled of fresh paint and coffee, a combination that he had grown addicted to.  
  
“Do you have a ‘favorite sound’?” Yixing asked.  
  
“Hmmm…”  
  
The older one frowned and thought of something but when he was being completely honest, there were a lot of sounds that he liked. He couldn’t possibly pick one. So he grinned, snatched his hands under Yixing’s shirt and said:  
  
“I really like your moans.”  
  
Yixing shot up and hit Yifan’s shoulder.  
  
“Asshole!”  
  
Yifan giggled and even Yixing couldn’t keep his serious expression up for very long.  
  
“What? You asked, stop acting like you don’t like it!” Yifan imitated the other one.  
  
Yixing rolled his eyes, failed to hide his blush, then got up.  
  
“Alright, I think I’m going to take a shower.”  
  
“Can I join?”  
  
“You just showered, Yifan…”  
  
“I don’t care.” he purred with a devilish grin on his face.  
  
“No, you cannot!”  Yixing shot back and Yifan pouted, while the other one took off for the bathroom. Two minutes later, Yifan heard his boyfriend sigh heavily.  
  
“Okay, come on,” he called from the bathroom and Yifan didn’t need a second invitation – he was up within seconds.


	2. Hello

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yifan meets Yixing.

你好  
（一）Pointindex finger of dominant hand to the person you’re addressing  
（二）Create a fist with your dominant hand, put your thumb up

 

Wu Yifan balanced cooked rice and Gongbaojiding to a table, the green plastic chopsticks clattering against the metal of the tablet when he placed it onto the wood. The sound made his friends Zitao and Luhan flinch and they looked up to him in surprise.  
  
“What’s wrong?” asked Luhan, when Yifan sat down and sighed heavily.  
  
“I’m screwed, that’s what’s wrong,” he answered.  
  
Zitao and Luhan exchanged a look, then Tao said:  
  
“Okay. So. Do you want to be a drama queen about it or do you want to tell us what’s going on?”  
  
“First of all: Fuck you, I’m not a drama queen.”  
  
Tao sighed and drew his attention back to his lunch, which was a huge bowl of noodles with eggs and tomatoes.  
  
“Second of all: I’m behind with my credits. I lack ‘extracurricular activities’. If I don’t do anything this semester, they’ll kick me out.”  
  
“Oh,” Luhan made and Tao seemed unimpressed.  
  
“So. Just join a club?” he suggested, after slurping on his soup.  
  
Yifan groaned. He hated the clubs the PKU provided. Sure, the basketball club wasn’t bad, since he liked the sport, but apparently, that didn’t seem to be enough for the examination authorities who had called the young man in earlier for a talk on his academic future. They had made it too clear: If he still wanted to be a student of this university, he needed credit points. They didn’t care how he gained them, as long as he had them together by the end of the semester.  
  
“I really really don’t want to do this,” he mumbled, not feeling very hungry.  
  
“Clubs aren’t that bad, and there are plenty of them, you’ll find something that you will like,” Luhan said optimistically and gave him a huge smile.

“Ugh,” was Yifan’s answer, before he shoveled the chicken into his mouth.  
  
They only had thirty more minutes before the next classes would start.

 

Two days later Yifan strolled down the campus with Zitao, enjoying the excellent autumn weather. September and October were the best months to be in Beijing because there was a lot of wind that kept the smog away – the reward was sunny days with clean air and pleasant temperatures, something that was rare in China’s capital. When November would be here, the temperatures would drop immensely and then their misery would only be beginning, since the winters in Beijing were long and very, very cold.  
  
“Hey, can we stop to get some milkshakes?” Zitao asked his friend and Yifan nodded.  
  
The area on PKU’s campus with all its cafeterias and small stands was one of their favorite spots. Especially Zitao had a thing for the milkshakes a young married couple made. They sold a lot of fruit throughout the year and used them also for their drinks. Zitao was one of their best customers, sometimes he even got one milkshake for free. Most of the time, Yifan got the extra one, and he couldn’t really complain about that since he was a student and free beverages were always welcome. While they stood in line for the drinks, Tao’s eyes locked with a note that somebody had stuck to a lamp post.  
  
“Hey, Yifan, wasn’t your grandmother deaf?”  
  
“Ummm… yeah. So what?”  
  
“So you know how to use Sign Language?”  
  
“Well, when she was still alive I did. But I haven’t used it in ages; I guess I’m a little rusty. Why the heck are you asking?”  
  
His friend tore away the note that had caught his attention and handed it over to Yifan.  
  
“They’re looking for someone to help deaf students, it sounds like some sort of Buddy-program.”  
  
“Dude…” Yifan said after he had skimmed the note, “I don’t have time to be a buddy for a deaf kid. I have enough to do with my stupid major already.”  
  
Tao clicked his tongue and responded:  
  
“Stop it already, you’re not in the position to brag about free time, since you haven’t even joined a club yet.”  
  
“Clubs SUCK!” Yifan cut Tao off, but Tao wasn’t having anything of Yifan’s attitude.  
  
“Take a closer look, I think they said something about credits somewhere.”  
  
Yifan rolled with his eyes and read the paper more carefully this time. Tao was right – there was a possibility to get credits for the whole thing. And when he saw how many they offered, Yifan’s mouth dropped.  
  
“This…!”  
  
“This might save your lazy ass, my dear,” Tao sing-songed and grinned widely as Yifan immediately took out his phone and dialed the contact number.  
  
“I owe you one,” Yifan mouthed and when a young woman picked up the phone, Yifan turned away and it was Tao’s turn to place his milkshake order – he went for Banana today.  
  
  
  
Basically the next day, Yifan was already way in too deep to back down. It wasn’t like he was really fond of doing the whole thing, but he needed the credits and that way he didn’t have to join a club. As it turned out, the Peking University had been criticized for not doing enough for their disabled students and the chairmanship reacted with creating this buddy-concept where ‘normal’ students helped the handicapped ones out, be it in class (if their schedules were allowing it) or in everyday campus life. When Yifan said he knew Chinese Sign Language, the woman he had called was stoked since they had a deaf kid on the list but nobody who knew how to interpret. Yifan was called into their office the next day and ten minutes later he had walked out, the paperwork being done and a paper with his new buddy’s phone- and QQ-Number in his hands. After dinner, he sat on his bed in his dorm room, while Tao and Luhan were munching on some chips watching the new episode of Pretty Little Liars. Yifan hated that show, but his other two friends were addicted to it. At first it had been Luhan who had told them about it and he had annoyed them until they gave in and watched the first season together with him. Tao was immediately hooked, even though he never admitted it. And since the Wifi was best in Yifan’s room, they met up every Wednesday night to watch the new episode, even though Yifan did not really approve.  
  
“Have you contacted your buddy already?” Luhan asked casually, while they were watching one of the show’s main characters getting a new threatening message from the show’s villain (Tao commented: “NO STOP IT! Leave her alone!”).  
  
“Not yet, I don’t know what to say,” Yifan replied.  
  
“Just ask him to meet up, it shouldn’t be that hard.”  
  
Yifan made a face, while Luhan took the paper from the night desk and looked at the picture of the guy.  
  
“Oh, he’s cute.”  
  
“Yeah, did you expect deaf people are ugly?” Yifan snapped and took away the note.  
  
“Woah, chill, it’s not like  _I_ made you do this!”  
  
“Oh god, LUHAN, A is in the house, A just entered the house! And I think they’re going to kill Spencer!!” Tao squealed, grabbing Luhan’s thin arm.  
  
His attention immediately snapped back to the show and Yifan rolled his eyes. His friends were such losers. Then he took another look at the paper and had to admit that Luhan was right. This guy was cute, but that wasn’t really a miraculous achievement because on campus the only decent looking people where the Korean exchange students. The Chinese male population on campus was the weirdest thing Yifan had ever witnessed. Most of them looked like they never changed their pajamas and just walked around in them for a few weeks and it creeped Yifan out. While Tao and Luhan almost died of a heart attack because of the scene that was flashing across Yifan’s laptop, he pulled out his phone, added this guy to his Wechat Account and typed a message:

_Hello! I got assigned to be your buddy, I think you know what I’m talking about. My name is  Wu Yifan._

He didn’t really know what to say else, so he just added a random smiley, to make it look like he was actually nice (he went for a waving penguin) and hit send. After five minutes, he got a reply:

_Hey! Thank you for doing this, I almost lost hope they would never find someone. I’m Zhang  Yixing, nice to meet you! When are you free for a meetup? :)_

Tomorrow was Yifan’s free weekday where he didn’t have to attend any lectures, so he simply typed:

_I’m free tomorrow, whenever you’ve got time._

It seemed like Yixing hadn’t even closed the chatroom because he immediately wrote back.

_Is 3pmokay? In front of the library?_

Yifan shot a look at his friends, but they were completely oblivious to their environment. They grabbed each other’s arms and stared at the monitor, completely mesmerized. With a last eye roll, he turned back to his phone.

_Yes, that’s fine. See you tomorrow!_

After Yixing thanked him once again for doing this and he told him that he was looking forward to their meeting, Yifan’s phone stayed silent.  
  
“Ya, Luhan, I contacted that guy, are you happy now?”  
  
“Shhhhh, Yifan, I don’t have time for you right now!” Luhan shushed him, not even turning away from the screen for one second.  
  
Yepp. His friends were a bunch of losers.

  
  
“Ah shit,” Yifan cursed while he made his way to the library where he was about to meet Yixing.   
  
He was running late, but mostly because a lot of students were heading to class in the other direction and Yifan had underestimated the mass of people that made it almost impossible to get through. When he finally reached the building, Yixing was already there. He wore a jeans jacket and carried an MCM bag (a fake one, from one of the markets here in Beijing) around. His hair was a little lighter than on the photo, but Yifan recognized him immediately. He was smaller than him and he looked very nervous, but he lived up to his picture, in fact, he seemed even cuter in real life than on his photo. When Yifan headed towards him, he cracked a relieved smile.  
  
“Hello, sorry I’m late,” Yifan said, using his hands to communicate also, and immediately added, “I haven’t used sign language in a long time, so I might be rusty, sorry.”  
  
He wasn’t sure if his hand movements were correct, but Yixing just smiled wider and answered:  
 _  
“It’s okay, I can help you out if you need it.”_  
  
Yifan was really bad at small talk with hearing people, so he was especially awkward around Yixing. They looked at each other for a few moments, then Yifan asked:  
  
“So, do you have any plans? Do you need help with something?”  
  
Yixing’s smile did not fade the whole time. He seemed too happy to be with someone who he could finally communicate with.  
 _  
“To be honest, I wanted to meet you here because I really need help. I got a new student ID but something is wrong with it when I want to lend books. And I tried to let them know but it seemed like they did not understand what my problem was.”_  
  
Yifan grunted. He knew very well what Yixing was talking about. He himself was a victim of the new IDs that didn’t work properly and the unfriendly women in the library who always acted like this wasn’t their problem, when in fact it was, because _they_ were in charge for it.  
  
“Okay, I get it, let’s go in.”  
  
When they entered, Yixing pulled out his ID and Yifan took it.  
  
“I’ll handle it.”  
  
Yixing nodded thankfully and followed behind, a little scared, since his last encounter with the ladies at the information desk had been a very unpleasant event. Yifan headed to one of the three employees, put Yixing’s ID on the desk and said:  
  
“We have a problem with this one.”  
  
She looked up and remained unimpressed, but at least she did not send him away like others used to do.  
  
“Okay. What’s the problem?”  
  
“My friend here cannot lend any books.”  
  
She eyed Yixing who stood a little offside, then turned back to Yifan and said:  
  
“And your friend here cannot tell me in person?”  
  
“Not unless you know Sign Language, no,” Yifan responded and Yixing snorted.  
  
The woman sighed heavily, took the ID and shuffled over to another computer that was attached to an ID-card reader. She placed Yixing’s ID on it, then hacked something into the machine and two seconds later she came back.  
  
“If it’s still not working, come back and we’ll have to give you a new one.”  
  
“Okay, thank you.”  
  
While they exited the library, Yifan gave Yixing his ID back.  
 _  
“Thank you.”_  
  
“It’s nothing. If it’s still not working, you have to apply for a new one. But I can help you with that, too, so don’t worry about it.”  
  
Yixing frowned for a moment, but then he smiled again.  
 _  
“Let’s just hope it works then.”_  
  
When they stepped out on the main street, the smaller brunette had another question:  
 _  
“I’d like to treat you to some coffee but I have no idea where to get a good one around here.”_  
  
Yifan laughed – Yixing had blushed a little when he had admitted that and somehow it was just too cute to handle.  
  
“When did you get here exactly?”  
 _  
“Two weeks ago when the semester started. But I don’t live on campus, I’ve got an apartment in Wudaokou, so I have no idea about anything around here.”_  
  
“It’s okay, I’ll show you around. The only coffee shop on campus that makes good coffee is called Paradiso, let’s go there.”  
  
Ten minutes later Yifan and Yixing sat in the shop that was somehow a cheap Starbucks knock-off. Light Jazz music was playing and students, mostly Koreans and Westerners, sat in front of their laptops and tried to study. Most of the Chinese who had snatched a place in one of the armchairs were taking a nap, forgetting about their coffees in front of them. Yifan had brought two cups of the hot beverage to the small table in the corner where Yixing had waited for him and then they started talking.  
  
Yifan found out that Yixing was from Changsha and he had enrolled at the university’s art school to get his degree. Yixing also told him that he had been born with a severe hearing loss, and at first, he wasn’t sure whether to leave Changsha and his parents to study up north in Beijing, but he figured that he’d better start living his own life, even though he had a huge handicap. He had found a relatively cheap apartment fifteen minutes away from campus, because he clearly didn’t want to share a room with five others like it was common in the dormitories, and he was getting along well so far living alone. However, he still had immense problems with university, so he had signed up for the new buddy-program. As it turned out, Yixing was also capable of lip-reading, which explained why he had laughed when Yifan had talked to the librarian before. In fact, he also knew how to vocalize words, since he could indeed hear some sounds and noises (when they were loud enough), but ever since the neighbor’s kid in Changsha had called him out on his horrible pronunciation when he was 14, he did not dare to try it again except when he was around his family or close friends. They spent almost two hours talking to each other and Yifan realized his Sign Language was better than he had imagined before. It took him not too long to get it all back together and he was kind of proud of it. Yifan had made plans to meet Tao and Luhan for dinner in front of their favorite cafeteria and asked Yixing to join them, but he had declined politely – he didn’t like crowded places like cafeterias.  
  
“Okay, so, when shall we meet again?” Yifan asked him.  
  
Yixing seemed happy when Yifan indicated he wanted to see him again and he replied:  
 __  
“Whenever you want to.”  
  
“Have you been to any of the sights here in Beijing?”  
  
Yixing shook his head no.  
  
“Okay, shall I take you to the Forbidden City on Friday? It might not be as crowded as on weekends and when we go in the afternoon, most of the annoying tourist groups are already gone.”  
  
After a whileYixing agreed on going, even though he didn’t seem to be completely positive about the trip. They arranged to meet at three in front of the subway station, then they parted. Yifan headed for dinner, Yixing headed home.

  
  
“So, how was your date with the cute deaf guy?” Luhan asked, as they shared a big pot of Malahuoguo and he picked out one of the lotus roots that had been boiling in the spicy sauce.  
  
“His name is Yixing, okay?”  
  
Luhan nudged him, to indicate that he didn’t mean to insult anyone and corrected himself:  
  
“So, how was your date with Yixing?”  
  
“It wasn’t a date. I helped him fix his ID at the library.”

“Oh god, they really have to do something about those stupid IDs, none of them are working properly,” Tao threw in and searched for the pieces of pork in the pot.  
  
“And afterward we had a coffee at Paradiso. We talked. He went home. That’s it. I’m taking him to the Forbidden City on Friday,” Yifan reported matter of factly and ignored Tao.  
  
“Is he nice?”  
  
“He seemed to be nice to me, yes.”  
  
Luhan looked at him with high expectations on his face but Yifan just stared back and asked:  
  
“What do you want?”  
  
“Is there anything else to tell?”  
  
“Sweet Jesus, Luhan, you’re annoying. As I said: We met, we talked, end of the story.”

“I just thought.”  
  
“Don’t think too much,” Yifan advice and then Tao brought them back to reality:

“There is no pork in this one. Luhan, I told you to get pork.”  
  
“No, darling, pork is bad for your body. I put in some extra chicken.”  
  
Tao grunted, and shoveled down the rice. Luhan refrained from asking Yifan about every little detail of his meet up with Yixing and after a few minutes of awkward silence, in which Yifan was kind of mad at Luhan for being so nosy and Tao was kind of mad at Luhan for not putting pork into their dinner, Luhan sighed heavily and said:  
  
“Okay guys, I’m sorry. Are you really mad at me now?”  
  
The thing with Luhan was – you couldn’t be mad at him for long. Yifan smiled and said:  
  
“No, it’s okay.”  
  
“Yeah, I just saw you put in quail’s eggs. We’re good again.”  
  
Luhan smiled and put his quail’s eggs into the bowl of Tao.  
  
“Here, have mine. I don’t like them very much today.”  
  
Tao looked up and his face lit up in joy.  
  
“Really?”  
  
“Yeah, take them all.”  
  
“Aaaah, Luhan, thank you so much!”  
  
Yifan scoffed and shook his head. Yeah. His friends were really a bunch of losers. But he had to admit that he liked them a lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> "BUT WAIT YIXING COULD HEAR IN THE PROLOQUE?" - Yepp. I know. That's part of the plan, wooooooh, mysterioussssss  
> I got the idea from this video by the way: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DxeArEGPZJg (it's super hilarious, but also very cute, you def. should watch it).


	3. Really

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First Date!!

真的  
（一）Point index fingers of both hands.  
 （二）Index finger of dominant hand taps index finger of other hand, forming an “X”

The weather on Friday was on their side which made Yifan actually get excited about the trip to the Forbidden City with Yixing. After his last lecture, he jumped right into the bus and took the rocky ride to the subway station. When he arrived, Yixing was already waiting. He didn’t have to say or do anything, his facial expression made it clear that he was nervous about the trip. So far, Yixing had never taken the subway – the only times he had left his apartment was for grocery shopping and when he walked down Chengfu Street to get to the campus.  
Now, it was not like Yixing was super anxious about a lot of people and taking public transportation. Back in Changsha, he didn’t have any problems with that. But Beijing was kind of different – while Changsha’s subway system consisted of two lines, Beijing was constantly adding new ones, for example. The city had a whole different mentality compared to his hometown and he was feeling kind of lost and alone. And that’s why he spent most of the time in his apartment, performing follow-up course work on the lectures he had visited (and that took up most of his free time) or working on his paintings.  

“Hey, you’re already here!” Yifan stated.

_“I’m living on the other side of the street, so yeah…”_

When Yifan tilted his head in question, Yixing pointed to a window in the building opposite of the station. It was in a building where a lot of stores and bars had opened in the first two floors. The rest were apartments.

“Wow, you’re basically living where I spend my Friday nights,” Yifan stated when he saw that his favorite bar was in the same establishment.

The Wudaokou subway station was relatively small compared to others in Beijing, but there were still a lot of people getting on and off the trains. Yixing grabbed Yifan’s jacket and held onto it the whole trip. Yifan didn’t mind though and led the smaller one safely through the pile of people. When they finally got off at Tiananmen East 45 minutes later, Yixing looked distressed. They had had to change the lines three times and Line 1, which was the line that went straight through the city, had been the most packed one. Besides the Beijingers using the trains to get to their workplaces, a lot of tourists, Mainlanders and foreigners, were also using the subway and that ended in hopelessly overfilled carts.

“I swear, the worst part is over,” Yifan tried to calm him when they stepped out on Tiananmen Square, one of the biggest squares in the world.

When Yixing laid his eyes on the place, he blinked in confusion.

“What’s wrong?”

_“Who on earth needs all this space?”_

Yifan laughed and he grabbed Yixing’s elbow.

“Come on, we’ve got to get tickets.”

Yixing followed him over the square, turning his head in every direction to capture every detail about it, from the Monument of the Heroes and Mao Zedong’s Mausoleum to the Tiananmen Gate they had to pass to reach the Forbidden City. Yifan bought the tickets at the counter, while Yixing waited up for him in the background. He was obviously stunned by the high red walls that used to separate the emperors and their royal household from the normal people.

“Ready?”

Yifan waved with two tickets in front of him to bring the smaller one back to reality, and Yixing nodded.

_“Let’s go.”_

When they walked through the Meridian Gate to the first court of the site, Yifan was relieved to see that most of the tourists indeed were gone. He remembered the day he went here with his mother who had visited him during the National Holidays. It had felt like half of China was there, too and Yifan couldn’t remember if he had actually been walking by himself or the crowd had carried him away.

_“I have to ask once again: Who needs all this space?!”_

Yixing took a look over the court, with its five bridges that led to another hall.

“I think the emperors’ egos needed it the most,” Yifan stated and the other one chuckled.

Every time they crossed a new hall and got further into the city, Yixing needed a moment and took a closer look at all the decorations and paintings on the walls, the ceilings, and the columns. At first, Yifan did not quite understand why Yixing made such a fuss about it – in the end, it all looked the same to him. Then he thought that maybe Yixing’s enthusiasm came from his major at university, but he didn’t dare to ask since it might’ve come off as rude. After a while, they reached the inner part of the palace, where eunuchs and concubines used to reside. Yifan had feared that the crooked alleys would be crammed with more people than in the big courtyards, but they actually found one yard with a small hall where only some old grandmothers from Guangdong (Yifan came from there himself and immediately recognized the Cantonese) had sat down and talked about how exhausting this whole Beijing trip with their group was. He chuckled when Yixing leaned over a small statue and examined its texture. The smaller one saw it in the corner of his eyes, stood straight again and gave him an apologetic look.

_“I’m sorry I take so long. We can leave if you’re bored.”_

“Oh no, please. Take your time. The only thing stopping you are the closing hours,” Yifan said and took a look at his phone, “And they’re going to close in about sixty minutes.”

_“It’s just like this: I don’t really hear anything, so I try to take a closer look at things. It’s just like blind people develop very accurate hearing. I kind of developed accurate seeing, if that term even exists.”_

Yixing shrugged it off like it was nothing and proceeded to the hall. Yifan caught up to him.

“So, is that why you’re majoring Arts?”

 _“You could say that. I started painting as a kid, and it’s the only thing I’m really good in,”_ Yixing answered and waved his phone that he had been using to take billions of pictures of every little detail in the Forbidden City, _“I think it’s pretty safe to say my next painting will contain elements I saw here.”_

The taller of the two smiled and remained silent. While they went back to the main route that visitors were advised to take, another idea popped into his head.

“Actually, Yixing,” he said, interrupting him in taking a picture of the imperial garden, “I’d like us to leave. There’s something else you need to see before they close everything.”

_“… okay?”_

Yixing put his phone away, linked his left arm with Yifan’s right one and followed him with a questioning look out of the site. Yifan walked pretty fast because the closing hours of nearly every park and sight in Beijing were near and he wasted not one second explaining Yixing what kind of thing he wanted to show him. They crossed the big main road and walked straight to the entrance gates of Jingshan Park. Basically, Jingshan was an artificial hill that had emerged when emperor Yongle ordered to dig up the soil for the moats of the Imperial Palace and the gardens surrounding it. The soil had to go somewhere, and maybe nobody wanted to make the effort to bring all of it outside the city, therefore this hill was created and today it served as a park. When they had paid the entrance fee because apparently, almost nothing was for free in Beijing, Yifan told Yixing:

“I hope you don’t mind a little hike.”

 _“I still don’t know what you’re up to, Yifan,”_ the other one simply responded.

“Trust me, it’ll be cool.”

Yixing nodded, then they walked up the 150 feet high hill at an enormous speed. The sun was about to go down and Yifan wanted to be on top before that. On top, there was another hall that was somehow connected to the Forbidden City, but Yifan did not care about the architecture this time. He also didn’t care for the photographer that asked him if he and his friend wanted to try on an emperor’s costume and take a picture (that was the thing to do when coming here, even foreigners from Europe and America played emperor-dress-up). Yifan dragged Yixing to the edge of the balustrade – during the day, the smog had started to creep back into the air and you saw that very well when you looked down on the city from a height like this. The streets seemed to be covered in mist, which was the result of all the cars causing too many emissions. But Yifan didn’t come here to show how bad Beijing’s air situation was, because that never needed any big proof anyway, he came here to show the Forbidden City from another point of view. Right in front of them, the whole sight unfolded. Yixing’s confused expression made way for a stunned one – then he started to smile widely.

_“Wow, that’s beautiful.”_

Yifan felt somehow proud of his idea. He had to admit, he liked this place much more than the Forbidden City itself. It put the whole thing in a different perspective: The pretentiously decorated halls and hallways disappeared and only the golden painted roofs remained. The buildings and walls that seemed to crush you became small and meaningless and you realized that the Forbidden City was just that: a ‘city’ that used to be the home of a very small minority in Imperial China. It was almost ridiculous that the decisions of the very few residents there made dynasties go down – even the whole Chinese Empire. Yixing did not seem to care a lot about the whole historical facts surrounding the buildings. He made sure to capture every angle for any future references that were possible. Yifan sighed a little and supported his head with his arm while leaning against the balustrade. In moments like this, he actually liked Beijing and almost forgot that he hated it most of the time. Not even Luhan who was a true Beijinger (with the real Beijing accent, even though he had learned to not overuse it around Tao and Yifan who hated the typical dialect more than final exams) had managed to convince him to believe that Beijing was one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Even though it was covered in thick smog most of the time, Luhan did not seem to care a lot about it. Yifan had figured that growing up in Beijing made you oblivious to some things, and these things included air pollution, the necessity to use a god damn tissue when blowing your nose and queuing when entering the subway (the tissue-issue did, fortunately, not apply to Luhan though).  While he was lost in thoughts about his friend, he did not see how Yixing was looking at him for quite some time and then pointed his phones’ camera right at him. Only the clicking of the release brought him back to the present.

“Ey! Did you just take a picture of me?!”

Yixing looked surprised.

_“How did you know?”_

“Your camera clicked. Next time you need to put that on mute.”

 _“It’s not on mute?!”_ Yixing took a look at his camera settings and then sighed, _“I always forget to do that.”_

He looked back up and asked:

_“Do you want me to delete it?”_

“It’s okay. As long as you’re not posting it somewhere on Weibo, you can keep it.”

Yixing laughed and Yifan realized that it was a pleasant laugh. He immediately wondered how Yixing sounded when he talked.

_“Don’t worry, I don’t have an account. The only thing I have is WeChat.”_

“Guess I have nothing to worry about then.”

They took a last long look over the scenery before Yifan stated that he was hungry. Yixing admitted that he had been feeling hungry ever since they had entered the last part of the Forbidden City, so they decided to leave the park to grab a bite. When they stood at the main road, Yifan said:

“Let’s go have dinner in Ghost Street. There are plenty of restaurants to choose from and I reckon the restaurants around here are too expensive anyway.”

Yixing didn’t mind, and he was delighted when Yifan caught a taxi, saying they wouldn’t use public transportation to get there because otherwise, the trip would be about 50 minutes and the taxi reached the street within 15. Beijing’s traffic and the public transportation system was crazy like that.

 

Ghost Street wasn’t only famous for the huge variety of food but also for the many red lanterns that lightened up the place and gave the whole thing the “ghosty feeling”. It was yet another spot to catch poor tourists, but Yifan knew exactly which restaurant was worth the money, or worth the wait.

“Do you like spicy food?” He asked Yixing whose face had lit up in joy when he saw the lively scene and they made their way past customers who had to wait outside of the restaurants for a table.

 _“I’m from Hunan, of course I like spicy food!”_ Yixing shot back, with an expression on his face as if this question was totally unnecessary.

“Oh. Sure! Sorry about that!” Yifan chuckled, “Then I know just the thing for you. Follow me.”

He grabbed Yixing’s arm and took once again the lead and Yixing was happy to follow. They reached a restaurant that was smaller than most of the other establishments and advertised hot and spicy Sichuanese food.

“I know it’s not Hunanese, but this one is really good. They’ve got the best Chongqing Laziji in the whole city.”

 _“It’s okay, I also like Sichuanese,”_ Yixing responded with a smile.

The huge advantage of the restaurant was that it wasn’t packed with people as the other ones, but there were still enough customers to indicate that the food was good. That was the number one rule to choose a restaurant: if even the Chinese did not like the food there, it really wasn’t good and you should avoid it at all costs. Yifan and Yixing got a table at a window without waiting too long, and a kettle of hot tea. Yixing poured Yifan a cup who examined the menu.

“Sooo, do you want to order the Chongqing Laziji or do you want something else?”

_"Oh, I don’t care, just choose a few dishes. I’m not very picky about food.”_

“Wow, we should go out to eat more often. When I’m out with my friends, they quarrel for at least fifteen minutes about what to order, you, on the other hand, are way easier to handle,” Yifan exclaimed and made Yixing laugh once again.

In the end, Yifan ordered said dish, along with three others (that contained fish, pork and tofu, so they had some variety) and some rice to fill their stomachs. When the food arrived, Yixing was laughing again about a joke that Yifan had just cracked.

“My god, you’re easy to entertain,” the taller one said in amusement.

 _“I’m really sorry about that!”_ Yixing answered and tried to hold back his laughter while the waitress was placing the hot and steaming dishes on their table.

“Enjoy your food,” she said hastily before she hovered over to another table that was calling for her.

_“_ _It’s just… I haven’t really talked to anyone since I arrived here; it’s just really great to make conversation with someone.”_

“It’s okay! You’re the first one to like my jokes, so I’m not complaining,” Yifan responded and Yixing broke out into another wave of giggles.

Right when they started to eat, Yifan’s cellphone chimed. He grunted.

“I usually don’t get any calls, but when I do, it’s when I’m eating,” he complained and Yixing simply grinned, while he put one of the spicy fried chicken pieces into his mouth.

When Yifan checked who called him, he sighed. It was Luhan. Not answering the phone was no use with this guy, because Luhan would just continue to call until you picked up. And leave a billion of messages, just in case calling wasn’t enough.

“Yeah, what’s up?” Yifan asked and shoveled some of the tofu into his mouth.

“Tao and I are wondering where you are, my love!” Luhan singsonged and Yifan could make out indistinct chatter and clattering of glasses in the background.

“Um. Where exactly are you?”

“We had a date at Lush, have you forgotten?”

Yifan blinked confused and Yixing looked at him, trying to read his lips. It made Yifan a little uncomfortable, but he did not say anything.

“I… when did we say that?”

“Jeez, Yifan, where’s your head these days? Today’s live music at Lush and a longer Happy Hour so we said to meet up around eight to grab a table. You said you’d be back from your trip by then.”

“It’s EIGHT ALREADY?!”

“It’s half past eight, to be more precisely,” Luhan corrected.

Yifan rubbed his head.

“Fuck Luhan. I’m sorry, I totally forgot about it. I’m still out with Yixing.”

“Huh? Did you get lost in the Forbidden City and cannot find a way out?”

“Don’t be ridiculous. I’m having dinner with him.”

“But Yifan, we always share cheese fries?!” Tao interrupted and Luhan said:

“Go away Tao, let me handle that! – So, you two are still on your romantic date?”

“It’s not a –“ Yifan began, but stopped, since Yixing was following every little move of his lips, “Whatever, but yes, I’m still out with him.”

“Okay, so you bail on us. And leave us alone with the King Size Mojitos, the Cheese Fries and a weird Psychedelic Indie rock band from America. I get it.”

“Oh my friggin’ god, don’t be such a drama queen. I’ll be there, I just don’t know when.”

“But Yifan, Happy Hour is buy two get one free, who is supposed to drink the third glass?”

“I don’t know, you two guys can share it.”

“We are talking about HALF A LITER of Mojito – PER glass!”

“Oh my god, Luhan, can I live?! I said: I’ll be there. As soon as Yixing and I get back to Wudaokou, I’ll catch up to you.”

Luhan let out a long, melodramatic sigh, then he said:

“Alright then. One last question: Where exactly are you having this fancy dinner with your little boyfriend?”

Yifan massaged his right temple and tried to stay calm.

“Ghost Street,” he simply replied.

“Wait WHAT? But that’s like on the other side of the city, you’re going to take ages to-“

Beep. Yifan had hung up on Luhan, muted his phone and put it back into the pocket of his jacket.

_“Who was that?”_

“Luhan, a friend of mine. We were supposed to meet at eight at Lush, but I kind of forgot the time.”

Yixing’s eyes widened in shock.

_“So, do you need to leave now?”_

Yifan shook his head.

“No, we’ll have dinner and when we get back I’ll swing by.”

_“But won’t he be bored?”_

“Oh no, don’t worry, there’s another friend that can entertain him just fine.”

Yixing didn’t seem to be very convinced and frowned a little. It seemed as if he felt guilty about the situation.

“Hey, this isn’t your fault. It’s mine. I forgot about him and the whole thing.”

_“Would you like to be there now?”_

“I’m fine where I am now, Yixing,” Yifan replied, when he sensed that Yixing might feel like he was holding him

back from having real fun with his friends.

_“Really?”_

“Really.”

The smaller of the two managed to crack a smile when he believed what Yifan had said. Yifan looked into the rice bowl that Yixing had picked up again and realized he had picked out all the carrots of the pork dish.

“You don’t like carrots, huh?”

 _“Not with Yuxiangrousi, no,”_ Yixing admitted.

Yifan bent over and snatched the vegetables away with his chopsticks.

“I’ll eat them if you don’t mind.”

_“They’re all yours.”_

The tension had faded and they grinned at each other. Yifan wasn’t lying when he had stated that he was fine with where he was now. The thought of going to a crowded loud bar later kind of annoyed him right now. It was really nice hanging around with Yixing, but he figured that Yixing wouldn’t be up in joining him, so he put the carrots into his mouth and decided to enjoy the rest of the laid back part of the evening with Yixing as long as it lasted.  
  


 

After their dinner, they made their way back to Wudaokou, which meant that they had to face another one hour ride with the subway. But since the worst of the Rush Hour was over, it was a rather pleasant ride and they didn’t have to change once. They simply took the train on Line 13 which took a big turn around the outer parts of the city center. Only a few other people were sitting in the cart and got off at stations like Huilongguan, where there was basically nothing but skyscrapers in which another hundred Beijingers lived. When they got off at Wudaokou, the station was almost empty. It was unbelievable that it had been such a crowded place a few hours back. Outside the sationa lot of  vendors had scattered different stuff on blankets on the dirty floor and tried to sell it – the items varied from shoes and clothes to books and one even sold lamps, just in case one of the people passing by were in need of one.

 _“I had a really great time today,”_ Yixing stated when they had crossed the street and they had to part ways.

Yifan needed to head for the entrance that led to the bar he was supposed to go, Yixing needed to get to the gate of the apartment complex itself.

“Yeah, me too.”

An awkward moment of silence broke out where nobody really knew what to do.

“So, if you want to repeat that – we could go somewhere else next week,” Yifan suggested, “You’re an artist, right? We should definitely go to the 798 Art District then.”

When Yixing saw Yifan signing the words ‘Art’ and ‘District’ his eyes widened and it looked like somebody had just told him that Christmas and his birthday were going to be put together on the same day (if Chinese celebrated Christmas).

 _“Count me in!”_ he responded cheerfully.

Seeing him that happy, Yifan smiled and congratulated himself for this marvelous idea.

“Cool. Let’s text and set up the details. If I don’t get in there now, Luhan will kill me.”

_“Then I’d rather not hold you back. Goodbye, Yifan.”_

“Goodbye.”

With a last big smile and glowing cheeks, Yixing turned for the entrance gate. Yifan followed him with his eyes, until the gate was opened by the guard and Yixing had slipped in. Then he sighed deeply and stepped into the building himself. The bar was located on the second floor of the building, the first one was a restaurant that served snacks and icecream during the day. When he went upstairs, he heard the loud noise of the band playing tonight and he could tell immediately that this was going to be unbearable if he didn’t get wasted right away. When he stepped in, the place was packed with people. The waitresses had a hard time bringing the food and the drinks to the tables and the kitchen counter overflowed with dishes that had to be brought to the customers.

“Yifan! I knew you’d come!”

The Lush was owned by an American guy who was married to a Chinese woman and had stayed in China for at least ten years now. There was also another woman co-running the place, called Lisa. She was from a country in Europe (Yifan could never remember which one it was exactly, but he always thought of a Scandinavian country when he saw her blonde hair and big, blue eyes) and absolutely lovely. When Yifan, Yixing and Tao had come here the first night, she had paid them a round of Tequila shots, because they were participating in the weekly Pub Quiz and had scored a total of lousy 20 points, and Lisa had been feeling sorry for them. When they met at Lush for dinner, she slipped them some extra Cheese Fries on their plate or let them try out new dishes that the cook had come up with. She fought herself through the crowd and hugged him.

“Luhan and Tao are already waiting for you, they’re in the back!”

She had no time for smalltalkand hovered into the kitchen, but told him she’d swing by their table if she got a few calm minutes. Yifan sighed once again and squeezed himself through the crowd of people to the table in the back. Tao was the first to see him.

“Aaaah, look! The man of the hour is finally here!”

A total of five heads turned – and Yifan did not know four of them. Tao grabbed another chair and told him to sit down. Luhan placed a King Size Mojito in front of him. The ice cubs had already melted and watered the drink, but Yifan did not mind.

“We have been waiting for you!”

“Okay, cool,” Yifan responded and eyed the other four people he had never seen before.

“Oh, let me introduce you! We have been making a few new friends since it took you so long!” Luhan cheered and pointed at each of them: “This is Minseok, Sehun, Suho andChen, they’re exchange students from Korea and we offered them a place at our table.”

Yifan nodded, then took a huge gulp of his cocktail. He did not mind other people, really. But right now, he kind of longed for a little silence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Does anyone actually read this LOLOLOLOLOL


	4. Friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> More goo. Because that's all what this fic is.

**Chapter 3 – Friend**

朋友  
（一）Put thumbs of both hands up  
（二）Bring both hands together to the middle

Yifan wondered how people in movies and music videos always looked so relaxed while leaning their heads against the windows of busses that were driving around the city. The last twenty minutes, he had been dozing off while the bus was fighting its way through Beijing’s crazy traffic, but every time he leaned his head against the bus window, his head bumped against the glass, leaving him with a slight headache. He sat back up and sighed deeply, then looked at the young man next to him, leaning his chin on the empty seat in front of him.

“Hey, you’re okay?” Yifan asked after he had tapped him on the shoulder.

Yixing turned to him and smiled.

_“Sure. Just a little tired.”_

“Just a little? My god, where do you get all this energy from?!”

They had spent half the day wandering through the 798 Art District because the first times they went weren’t enough to see everything in the whole area. The buildings in this district had been originally built to serve as military factories in the 1950s before artists had taken over the area to open their studios in the late 1990s and early 2000s. Now it was a place filled up with creative works of Chinese and foreign artists – even Ai Wei Wei used to frequent the district, before clashing with the Chinese government. Most of the artists also lived in the building complexes and when you were lucky enough you could get a hold of them in one of the bars, cafés, and restaurants that had opened up there to catch the tourists. Yixing had fallen in love with the place immediately and demanded to go back almost every week, because there were constantly new exhibitions opening and the area was so huge, they always found new corners they hadn’t gone to before.

Yixing only gave Yifan an apologetic smile, then he lifted the picture he had bought from an artist from Shanghai (it was a replica, which was the only reason how Yixing could’ve possibly afforded it).

_“Do you want to help me put it up in my apartment?”_

“Wow, you’re inviting me over to your place? What did I do to deserve this honor?” Yifan joked.

_“It’s easy, you’re way taller than I am, so you put up the picture while I watch,”_ Yixing replied unimpressed, but cracking a smile.

“That should’ve been the moment you confirm that we are friends, Yixing…”

Yixing giggled, then the display over their heads blinked and showed them that the next stop was Wudaokou bus station where they had to get off.

_“I’m confirming the friendship with a dinner after you’re done?”_

“Your treat?”

_“Yes.”_

“Deal!”

Yixing smiled widely when they got off the vehicle and linked arms with Yifan. It wasn’t like Yixing necessarily needed the guidance, especially not around Wudaokou, but he liked being close to Yifan and the taller one never seemed to mind the contact. Sometimes he would even casually offer his arm, hands buried in the pockets of his jacket, since the relatively warm October had made way for the cold November in the last few weeks, and Yixing happily took the offer every time. When they passed the entrance for Lush bar, Yixing gave the taller one a questioning look and Yifan answered:

“No worries, I did not make any plans with Luhan and the others today. I’m all yours.”

It had been a constant seesaw between his college friends and Yixing the last weeks, and Yifan had tried hard to make everyone happy. The small trio had grown into a larger group, ever since the day Luhan and Zitao had made friends with a bunch of Korean guys at their favorite bar. As it turned out, Minseok and the others participated in Chinese language courses at PKU and Luhan seized every chance to meet them for lunch or dinner (Luhan defended himself with the argument that he only wanted to train his Korean and help them with their Chinese, but Yifan and Tao sensed that he was secretly crushing on Minseok). They also hit the bars around Wudaokou and Sanlitun together, and often Yifan was torn between partying it up with them, because their nights out always ended in a legendary story, or staying with Yixing, who preferred nice and laid back evenings at restaurants or cozy cafés. The whole dilemma settled into an unspoken rule between him and the rest: one evening on the weekends was for the ‘pack’ (the Chinese and Korean men had overdosed on the Hangover Trilogy), one evening was for Yixing, and none of the parties dared to interfere with the other. While Luhan, who was kind of the unofficial organizer for their trips, always demanded a five-day head-up for Yifan’s meetups with Yixing so he could plan the weekends, Yixing barely dared to ask if Yifan had time for him, because he feared he’d keep him from having fun with his other friends. But that made Yixing just more adorable than he already was, Yifan thought. While the smaller one opened the gate with jiggling keys, Yifan smiled, even though he was tired as hell.

_“My place may be a little untidy,”_ Yixing stated while they drove up to the tenth floor.

“I live in the cheapest student dormitory the Beida provides. Trust me, there’s nothing that can shock me anymore,” Yifan assured when the doors of the elevator slid open and they stepped out on the floor.

Yixing’s apartment was at the end of the very long hallway that somehow reminded Yifan of every horror movie ever: the walls were grey and dirty, and some lamps didn’t work anymore. When they passed the doors to the other apartments, Yifan could make out muffled conversations and the noise of televisions broadcasting yet another TV-Drama that had made it to the prime time slot of CCTV 1.

“How do you live here? It’s scary.”

_“I’m not living in the hallway, Yifan.”_

“I’d be creeped out if I had to pass this hallway every day.”

_“You get used to it, I guess.”_

Yixing opened the door to apartment 1001 and asked Yifan to come in. The taller one widened his eyes in surprise. It was like he had stepped into a whole different world. There was one big room with a small kitchenette in the corner, a peninsula serving as the dining table separated the cooking area from the rest of the room. There was a big blue couch in the middle of it, with a small table placed in front. Yixing’s notebook rested on it, still opened. There was neither a television nor a stereo to be found, but there was so much other stuff to see: like a big sideboard filled with novels and art books, and painting utensils. Yixing had placed an easel next to the window heading south, which seemed to be the place with the best lighting conditions. A ton of papers was lying around, with doodles and sketches that he had drawn before putting some of the drafts on canvases in acryl – a lot of Yixing’s finished pictures leaned against the walls. He hadn’t put up one of them up though. There was a small hallway with two more doors, one leading to the bathroom, one to the bedroom. Yifan turned around to face Yixing who seemed a little nervous about what his friend would say about his apartment.

“Wow, this is pretty cool.”

_“No, my mother always scolds me because I never tidy up the place.”_

Yixing hovered over to the pile of sketches and stuffed them into a drawer of his sideboard.

“I like it. It’s way better than my room in the dorm.”

The younger man gave him a thankful smile.

“So, where do you want this picture to be put up?” Yifan asked and grabbed Yixing’s newest possession that he had placed on the coffee table in front of the couch.

 

When the picture had finally been pinned to the wall, Yixing turned to his fridge to check the content. Then he let out a huge sigh.

_“I thought I had some leftovers from yesterday, but I was wrong,”_ he told Yifan when he closed the door again.

Yifan could tell how Yixing’s ability to be around people had reached its limits. The thought of going out for dinner again made the smaller one frown and he additionally crossed his arms in front of his chest, something he always did when he felt uncomfortable.

“Should I go and get some take out?” Yifan, therefore, asked, while sitting down on one of the peninsula’s bar stools.  
 _“_ _You’d go out again to get food?”_

“Sure. There’s a Hunanese that just opened up a few days ago two streets down here.”

Yixing’s face lit up in excitement.

_“Do they have Bingtang Xianglian?!”_

“I don’t know but if they have I can get them for you.”

Yixing did not need to give it a second thought – he flew over to his backpack, took out his purse and gave Yifan one hundred Renminbi and his keys.

_“You’re the best, Yifan!”_

“What’s my reward for this?” the taller one asked while he opened the apartment door.

_“My endless gratitude!”_

Yifan laughed and said he’d be back in maybe half an hour, before leaving the apartment. He made his way back to the streets of Wudaokou and walked down the main street, dodging the people that went into the other direction for the subway station. On his way, he passed small boutiques, a Burger King, a McDonalds, and three hairdressers, all of them blasting a different song out of their speakers to get the passenger’s attention. Yifan was used to the constant noise pollution, but he wondered how Yixing would react if he could hear all of this for the first time. He came to the conclusion that he might be scared off for at least a month because that would be clearly too much for his sensitive soul to handle. Yifan turned into a smaller side alley that was filled with different kinds of restaurants. The Hunanese was the newest looking one and pretty easy to find. When he stepped in, he was greeted by a teenager, obviously the son of the owner who had to help out after school.

“How many people?” he asked, while he gave Yifan a big smile.

“I’d like to take out some stuff.”

“Sure, here’s the menu. The red prizes are for takeout.”

“Wait, you’re charging an extra of 0.5 yuan?”

“I’m sorry, Sir,” the younger one answered, “But my father charges customers for the plastic bags. He says we should get more aware of all the waste.”

The boy looked like he did not approve either, so Yifan just nodded and ordered three dishes (plus Yixing’s beloved Bingtang Xianglian). When the boy went into the kitchen to give the cook the order, Yifan heard someone calling him:

“Ya! Big boy!”

When he looked up, he saw Suho, Sehun, Chen, and Minseok waving at him from the other corner of the room.

“What are you doing here?” Yifan asked the four Koreans, while he grabbed a chair from the empty table next to them and sat down at the head of theirs.

The table was filled with different kinds of hot dishes that they had ordered, and they were clearly too much for the four of them.

“We heard about this new restaurant and wanted to give Hunanese cuisine a try,” Minseok explained.

“Yeah, I see. Did you order everything off the menu?”

The Koreans looked at each other as if Yifan had caught them in the act.

“It was Suho’s call. We couldn’t read all the names and we didn’t really know what was good, so we randomly picked out some.”

“Ey!” Suho yelled at Chen and hit his shoulder with a fist, “You were the one suggesting it!”

“Hey, I’m not judging, don’t fight,” Yifan threw in and laughed.

“So why are you only getting take out?” Sehun asked.

“I was out with Yixing and we decided to have dinner at his place. I’m just getting it for us.”

“This Yixing guy is such a mystery to me,” Minseok joked, “If we ask you to get drinks you just tell us to get them ourselves. How did he manage to convince you to get food?”

“He’s a level five friend. You’re level two. You first have to work yourselves up to deserve my services.”

Chen snorted into his tea when he heard Yifan’s comment.

“You know what? You should bring him over some time,” Suho suddenly said out of the blue.

“Suho, he’s not a friend of parties and loud bars…”

“Yeaaah I know, he’s deaf and such, and a huge introvert, but I mean, we could all have dinner together or something. I’m just curious about this guy. And everybody else is, too!”

The other three Koreans nodded in agreement. Yifan groaned.

“You’re curious about him? Wait, I’ll show you a picture.”

The Chinese grabbed his phone out of his pocket, opened a random picture that he had made of Yixing today at the Art District and handed it over to Suho.

“There you go.”

“Woaaaaar, he’s handsome! How do you know such people?!” Suho exclaimed and Sehun took Yifan’s phone out of his hands to take a look himself.

Sehun nodded as if he wanted to agree with Suho and handed the phone over to Chen who already had stated that he wanted to see too. When Yifan’s phone had made it back to its owner, Suho said:

“You definitely need to bring him over one day. You cannot keep that for yourself.”

“This sounds so wrong on so many levels,” Minseok stated, but Suho shushed him.

“Good lord, if I say yes, will you leave me alone?”

“Let’s say I won’t let it go until you do!”

Yifan was spared an answer because the boy came out of the kitchen with a bag full of dishes and looked for him.

“I gotta go, guys. See you tomorrow. I heard Luhan and Tao want to go to Helen’s?”

“YeahI heard that too. It’s Karaoke Night,” Minseok answered and the two shared a sorely afflicted look.

Karaoke meant that Tao and Luhan would go crazy, while the others just sat there and drank everything the bar had to offer. Most of the time, it resulted in at least four of them being extremely hungover. And then they’d meet up for a hangover breakfast – at Helen’s. It was like a vicious circle that never seemed to end.

“I’ll take your silence as a yes, by the way!” Suho called after Yifan when he got up and said his goodbyes.

Yifan rolled his eyes and did not respond. Sometimes it was better to let Suho just talk, most of the time he would forget what he had said a few days later anyway. He went back to Yixing’s apartment but right when he was about to put the key into the lock of the apartment door, he heard Yixing talk.

“Yes, I eat enough!”

Yixing slurred the words a lot and he did not get the tones accurate 100%, but Yifan stopped his movements and stared at the door, waiting for Yixing to say something else. He made out a female voice that sounded distorted as if she was talking over a video conversation.

“Are you sure? You look so skinny!”

“MA, I’m fine!”

“Do you need me to send something? Is your money enough? Beijing is such an expensive city!”

“No, I don’t need…”

Yifan decided to enter the apartment and Yixing jumped up when the door opened. His eyes widened in shock.

“Yixing?”

“Ummmmm…. _Ma, I need to hang up now_.”

“Yixing, you know the rule: No sign language while video chatting.”

Yixing groaned in frustration as Yifan approached who was grinning from one ear to the other. Then he just plopped down next to Yixing and appeared in the window of the QQ video chat that Yixing had started with his mother. She was shown in a much bigger window and Yifan immediately knew who his friend got the good looks from. When she saw Yifan with a bag of food, she raised her eyebrows.

“You’ve got a visitor!” she stated.

“Hello, I’m Yifan!” the taller one greeted, as Yixing buried his face in his hands, but kept peeking through his fingers.

Her face brightened up.

“Oooooh, you’re the buddy from his university, right?”

“Maaa, he’s a friend,” Yixing threw in, in a very loud voice, as if raising the volume would make his slurs and spelling mistakes go away.

“Um, yeah, Mrs. Zhang, I got assigned to be his buddy. But we’re also hanging around outside of university.”

“You’re bringing food I see? It’s good to know that he has someone who takes care of him as long as I can’t do it.”

“I’m not a child, you are embarrassing!”

She clicked her tongue in disapproval. Then she turned back to Yifan and asked:

“Tell me, is he talking a lot?”

Yifan side eyed Yixing because he was not sure what to answer, but Yixing had long given up to stop his mother and decided to grab the bag with food to put it on a few plates.

“Actually this is the first time I hear him talking?” Yifan answered truthfully.

She hit the table she was sitting at with her flat hand.

“I knew it! This child, seriously…”

“Why is that important?” Yifan asked while Yixing came back, balancing three big plates with the food.

“He hasn’t told you about the implant?”

Yifan shook his head. Yixing sighed heavily.

“I don’t want this!” he then said and crossed his arms in defense.

Mrs. Zhang ignored her son and explained the matter:

“His father and I want him to get a Cochlear Implant, but I want him to train his speech first.”

“What’s that?”

“It’s a device that would bring back his hearing abilities, but he refuses to get one.”

She shot her son a sour look but he remained unimpressed.

“Why would you do that, Yixing?” Yifan asked.

_“I’d have to get one on each side. I’d look like an alien!”_

“But you could finally hear, son!”

_“Oh yeah, I love being ugly and disabled at the same time!”_

Yixing shot up and fled to the Kitchenette to grab chopsticks and the rice that had been cooking in the rice cooker. His mother turned back to Yifan.

“See? That’s how it’s been going for years now.”

“Ummmmmm,” Yifan answered and felt a little uncomfortable.

She sighed, then she said:

“Okay, I’ll let you guys have dinner. Yifan, take care of my son for me, would you?”

“Sure Mrs. Zhang.”

“Thank you. Goodbye, guys!”

When she hung up, Yixing finally came back and closed his laptop in frustration.

“I’m sorry,” Yifan stated.

_“It’s her fault, not yours,”_ Yixing answered with a distressed look on his face.

Then he gave Yifan a bowl of rice and a pair of chopsticks but while he did so, Yifan just knew that Yixing was really upset about the fact his mother had brought up this topic – his hands were shaking and he avoided to look directly at Yifan, pressing his lips together.

“Hey, Yixing,” Yifan set his bowl aside and grabbed the wrists of his friend, forcing Yixing to look at him, “I’m not going to take sides with your mother and try to force you to do something you don’t want.”

The smaller one jerked out of Yifan’s grip and responded:

_“But everybody does as soon as she comes up with it…”_

“I won’t, okay? You made it very clear that you don’t like the idea, so we won’t talk about it unless you want to.”

Yixing seemed stunned by Yifan’s words and mouthed a “Thank You” before he threw his arms around his neck and gave him a hug. Yifan was startled by the sudden move, but returned the hug, since it seemed that this was something Yixing needed really badly right now. When they parted, Yifan said:

“Let’s eat before the dishes get cold.”

They turned back to their food and Yixing’s mood was way better now than it had been a few moments ago. When they had finished they carried the empty plates to the sink. While Yixing cleaned them, Yifan dried them and tried to put them back to their rightful places with the help of the other one. Sometimes Yixing’s hands were downed in the water and he could not sign anything, so he gave directions verbally, but it seemed that Yixing had suddenly gained more confidence about it in Yifan’s presence.

“You know, I don’t think you sound weird when you talk,” Yifan admitted when he placed the last plate into the cupboard next to him.

_“You’re just saying that to make me feel better.”_

“No seriously! Do you know how my grandmother communicated with us? The older she got the more she sounded like a barking dog.”

Yixing laughed, then shook his head.

_“That’s a mean thing to say, Yifan.”_

“But it really was like that! I think you’re doing great considering the fact you cannot hear your own voice.”

Yixing did not answer but was obviously flattered about the compliment, since he turned away as soon as he had realized that he was blushing.

“I better get going,” Yifan stated when he had checked the time on his phone.

It was already ten o’clock and the dorm would be closing its doors in about an hour. He did not want to take any chances today since he had basketball training tomorrow at eight in the morning with an important game against the Basketball Club of Qinghua University coming up.

_“I’ll take you downstairs.”_

“You don’t have to, I’ll find my way out,” Yifan replied while putting on his shoes and coat.

_“Suit yourself then.”_

Yifan turned one last time in the doorway of Yixing’s apartment.

“Do you have any appointments next week I have to accompany you to?”

Yixing frowned and thought hard about next week’s schedule, then he came to the conclusion:

_“No. I just have the usual lectures.”_

“Oh. Okay. So – let’s meet next Friday then?”

_“Sure, let’s text about the details this week. Now get home, I don’t want you to spend the night out on the streets.”_

Yifan chuckled, ruffled Yixing’s hair and said:

“Good night.”

“Good night.”

When the door had closed shut behind Yifan, he snuggled into his coat to prepare for the cold outside. He tried to remember the name of the implant that Mrs. Zhang had brought up – sure, he had promised to not bring the topic up, but getting informed on the whole matter didn’t sound like a really bad idea, either.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Y'all what really annoys me is the fact that I wrote "Luhan" back then and not "Lu Han" omg but I'm too lazy to change looool
> 
> Also what the fuck a QQ VIDEO CHAT THAT'S HOW OLD THIS FUCKING FIC IS. WHO USES THAT ANYMORE LOOOOL


	5. Art

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> idk man this was a filler chapter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn I kinda hate this story but orz I already said I'd crosspost this.  
> There's more going to happen in the next chapter I swear.
> 
> BTW I'm a sun Leo so I need CONSTANT VALIDATION so make my day, drop a comment, y'all can also just chat with me lol!  
> (Also any Beida Alumni here? BEIDA REPRESENT!!)

艺术  
（一）Index finger of dominant hand writes the character艺into the air  
（二）Dominant hand pats the back of the other hand, then goes under it in a circle  
（三） Pat the back of the dominant hand with the other one

“Yifan? Hellooo?”

Tao’s voice made Yifan shoot up from his laptop and he blinked confused.

“Um… yes?”

“Have you been listening to us?”

Tao, Luhan, Minseok, Suho, and Yifan sat in the university’s library, in a corner far away from other students so their conversations wouldn’t disturb anybody else. Originally, the plan had been to get over the Korean’s homework and practice their listening comprehension, but apparently, Suho had had the great idea to invite everyone for a little sit-in at his and Sehun’s apartment tonight and they were going through points like who would be bringing the beer. Yifan hadn’t paid any attention though. After the eventful Karaoke Night at Helen’s the young man had finally managed to look up hearing implants on the internet and now he was so hooked on the topic, he had brought his laptop to the library to get more information about it, since the wifi at the dormitory had been a mess for the last few days.

Yifan somehow understood why Yixing was against getting a Cochlear Implant – the process of getting one involved multiple surgeries and in the end you’d have to wear a sound processor that got attached to the skull and was clearly visible for everyone else (of course, you could cover it up with hats or longer hair, but Yixing did not seem like the type for either headdresses or hair that was way longer than his ears). He didn’t quite understand every detail about it since he was no expert in the anatomy of the ear and everything else - his major was still International Business Economics, not Medicine. Therefore he had started digging deeper and actually found something that seemed to be a better option (visually speaking) than the Cochlear Implant. The thing was called Esteem Implant and was completely internal, which meant it wasn’t visible and also pretty much waterproof. It also meant that you never had to turn off the sound processor, which resulted in 24/7 hearing ability.

“Um. Yeah. No. I don’t know. Party at Suho’s tonight. I’ll be there,” Yifan babbled and drew his attention back to his screen, where an animated graphic was demonstrating how the implant worked.

“What the heck are you doing there?” Tao asked and leaned over the table to catch a look at what his friend had been doing for the last thirty minutes.

“Huh, what is that?”

“It’s a hearing implant, Tao,” Yifan cut him off, but with that comment, the attention snapped from the choice of beverages for tonight to him.

“Is Yixing getting one?” Luhan asked and the two Koreans pulled their chairs closer.

“What the fuck guys…” Yifan grunted, but when he realized he was not getting out of this matter anytime soon, he gave up defeat, “No. He’s not getting one. I’m just checking. It doesn’t seem like he wants one.”

“Oh, but why would he…”

“I don’t know, “ Yifan cut Luhan off and added, “Why don’t you ask him yourself?”

“I would love to, but you never bring him over!” Luhan responded with a big smile that was meant to be sarcastic.

Yifan rolled his eyes, mumbled a “Whatever” and went back to his research. The other guys sensed that questioning him any further would only make things worse, so they proceeded to answer the most important question: Should they get Qingdao or Nanjing beer? And should they also get some bottles of Soju, considering the fact they had classes tomorrow? Especially the Koreans were suffering from the difficulty of language courses that started at eight in the morning so they decided against the latter and after the issue was settled, Suho announced that he was hungry. Since breakfast had been a few hours ago, the five of them decided to leave the library and get something to eat. Most of the students would be in class now so the cafeterias and canteens would be empty.

 

When they stepped out, Suho and Minseok pulled out some masks with a small filter out of their pockets and placed them over their mouth and nose. The three Chinese snorted when they saw it and Tao commented:

“You’re looking like Hannibal Lecter, guys.”

“Shut up! I’m not risking anything!” Suho shot back, his voice muffled under the fabric.

Today Beijing revealed his nasty site: The smog covered the city mercilessly and did not let one ray of sunshine get through to them, which gave the whole environment an apocalyptical touch. If you took one deep breath, you almost felt the fine dust particles settling down in your lungs and damaging them profoundly – Yifan remembered that he had to fight severe coughing fits in his first months because his lungs were not used to the pollution. There was also the smell of metal, dust and other exhausts in the air that would creep into bed- and living rooms if no air filter had been installed. Yifan was the only one of the three to understand why Suho and Minseok used the air masks in such a strict way. He reckoned he’d wear one too if he didn’t know that the cheap masks from Seven Eleven were a complete hoax and actually did nothing against the smog. And he was way too stingy with his money to buy one of those high-tech super masks that had just hit the market. So he basically just accepted his fate and risked getting all sorts of deadly diseases, just like everybody else living permanently in Beijing did. At least they’d all get cancer together.

“Where do you want to go for lunch?” Yifan asked before Tao could pull off another stupid Silence of the Lambs joke.

“The noodle canteen!” Minseok called out and the others sighed heavily.

The ‘noodle canteen’ did not really have this name, but Minseok could never remember it correctly. But it had indeed specialized on noodles and every serving was freshly made in front of the student’s eyes which somehow fascinated Minseok so much that he basically lived there. Since nobody else had a better suggestion, they made their way to the building and when they had just passed a supermarket, a small brunet stepped out of it, with a huge plastic bag in his hand. When Yifan recognized him, a wide smile crept on his face.

“Hold on a second, guys,” he said and headed towards Yixing who looked up in that moment.

Yixing’s face lit up and Yifan pulled him into a hug, something they had never done before, but Yixing did not seem to mind at all.

“What are you doing here?” Yifan asked after he had pulled away from him.

Yixing lifted his plastic bag and signed:

_“I needed stuff for my lunch. I finished the lectures for today and I was just about to go home.”_

“Wait, you’re a freshman and they’re letting you go in the early afternoon? Man, I should’ve studied Art, too,” Yifan responded and Yixing let out soft giggles.

Then his eyes locked with something behind Yifan and he frowned.

“Um, Yifan…”

Yifan turned around and almost jumped into the air – the other four had approached them and suddenly they had been standing right behind him, maybe one or two feet away.

“GUYS!” he barked.

“Sorry!” they said in unison, but they were actually eyeing Yixing as if he was some major attraction at the zoo.

“Sweet Jesus, you are the worst,” Yifan mumbled and then proceeded to introduce Yixing to the other ones he called his friends.

“It’s so nice to finally meet you!” Luhan chirped and shook Yixing’s hand, who was obviously perplex.

“Yifan, how do you say that in Sign Language?” Suho demanded and Yifan answered:

“Yixing can read lips, he’ll understand you. Only if you take off your masks, of course.”

The Koreans eyed Yixing in awe, but Yixing’s expression gave away that he did not like all the attention.

“It’s nice to finally meet you. We have been wondering about you for a long time,” Tao said with a big smile.

“Could you stop acting like he’s an alien? You guys are embarrassing!”

_“It’s okay, Yifan, don’t be hard on them. I don’t think they’re trying to be rude.”_

“Nooo, stop being too nice,” Yifan responded, gesturing with his hands.

“Excuse me, what?”

That was the advantage of CSL: it was like speaking a foreign language and nobody around you knew what you were talking about. Yifan made a hand movement at Tao as if he was telling him to forget about it and then Luhan stepped in:

“Hey, what about Yixing coming over tonight, too?”

_“Coming over to what?”_

“Oh god, the guys are coming over to Suho’s tonight to have a few drinks. And I guess they’re also in for some rounds of Catan, it’s really boring, I don’t think you’d like it.”

“Hey, I heard that!” Suho interrupted, took off his mask and a few steps towards Yixing.

When he was sure to have caught Yixing’s undivided attention, he said:

“You’re welcome to come too, of course! Yifan’s friends are also my friends!”

“You are too much! For how long have we known each other? Two months?! And you dare to talk like this?!”

“Shut up!” Suho shot at Yifan who was so shocked of Suho’s cockiness he was at loss for words.

Yixing grinned widely, clearly having fun. Then he turned to Yifan:

_“Will you be there?”_

“Yeah, I guess.”

Yixing eyed Suho and the others then he turned back to the tallest:

_“Okay.”_

“Wait… are you sure?”

_“Yes, I am.”_

Yifan looked at Suho who did not get the conversation between them and said:

“He’s coming.”

“Oh really?? That’s so cool!”

Suho and the others were stoked to hear the news, Luhan even let out an excited gasp.

“I’m living in Huaqingjiayuan, building 23, room 654. I think we’ll start around seven. I’ll get some take out, is Pizza okay with you?”

 _“Oh! That’s in the same building I live in!”_ Yixing announced and Yifan groaned.

“You’re living in the same building,” he then translated and if this was possible, Suho’s eyes grew even wider and his smile became even more radiant, and Yifan clearly did not like it.

“Really?! That’s so cool! So you’ll be there?”

Yixing nodded, infected by Suho’s good mood.

“Nice!”

“That’s really nice indeed, but I’m dying of hunger, can we get going now?” Minseok threw in and brought them back to reality.  
And the reality was cold, smoggy, and everybody was having an empty stomach.

“Sure, let’s go!” Suho said and the four waved goodbye to Yixing.

“I’ll catch up to you,” Yifan stated and the four shrugged their shoulders and strolled down the street to finally get something to eat.  
When they were out of earshot (even though that clearly wasn’t necessary), Yifan asked:

“Are you sure about what you just did here, Yixing?”

_“Yeah. I accepted Suho’s invitation.”_

“But… I don’t really get it. You always avoid other people.”

Yixing smiled, then squeezed Yifan’s arm before he explained:

_“I just thought it would be nice to get to know your friends better, they seemed to be decent people. And if it’s too much for me, I don’t even have to take a long walk home. He’s basically living four floors beneath me. And you said you’ll be there, too, so there’s nothing I have to worry about.”_

Yifan did not seem to be convinced 100%, but his stomach fluttered when Yixing had said that in his presence, the smaller one felt safe enough to step out of his own comfort zone. Or he was just really hungry and needed food as soon as possible.

“Okay,” he gave in, “I’m going to pick you up?”

Yixing nodded to give his content and after bidding goodbye, each of them went their own way.

 

Yifan had said that he was going to pick up Yixing, but he never said when. That’s why when Yifan stood in front of Yixing’s apartment and waited for him to open the door, it wasn’t something around seven pm so they could go directly to the elevator to get down four floors – it was half-past five. The fact that Yixing was really confused goes without saying.

“What…?” he said when he finally opened the door and Yifan stepped in as if he lived here too and just had forgotten his keys.

“My roommate brought his girlfriend, I’d rather not be around when they get too steamy with each other,” the taller one explained and got rid of his shoes and jacket.

That wasn’t even a lie. Yifan had been in the middle of preparing the next lecture in economics, when his roommate came in, his girlfriend on his arm. Both of them giggled like five-year-olds and did not even seem to realize that Yifan was in the room, too. They started a passionate make-out session and Yifan escaped the scene before he could witness anything else that included two naked bodies grinding against each other. First of all, because these two naked bodies would be really weird to watch (his roommate and his girlfriend had the sex appeal of two old potatoes) and second of all, it was not his naked body grinding against another naked body and he could not stand being reminded that his sexual life was non-existent at the very moment (especially because these two seemed to have it better than him – sometimes he really wondered how such things were possible). So, being kicked out of his room, he thought of Yixing and figured that he also could just visit him a little early.

_“Oh, I see.”_

Yifan sat down on the couch and sighed.

“I just don’t understand how this is possible. These two are so ugly. Why are they getting sex all the time it’s annoying.”

Yixing chuckled and then proceeded to the easel and the painting that he had been working on.

 _“So no hot girlfriend in sight?”_ He asked with a naughty grin before he picked up his pencil.

Yifan let out a desperate laugh. He wasn’t sure whether he should just nod or let the cat out of the bag and tell Yixing that he did not only date women but also men. Nonetheless, Yixing was right with his assumption. Yifan knew Yixing was watching him so he answered:

“No. And no hot boyfriend either.”

He imagined that Yixing would blush or would be appalled but he just gestured without even blinking:

_“Well, that’s a tragedy. I hope you’re going to find either one.”_

No matter which reaction Yifan had expected, this hadn’t been one of them.

“Um. I just told you that I’m bisexual, you did understand that?”

Yixing nodded and responded:

_“Yeah, and now? Do you think you’re a special snowflake because you like both sexes?”_

“You don’t think that’s weird?”

Even if China acted like it was a developed country, it still lacked a lot of things. Acceptance of anyone having a different sexuality than heterosexuality was one of them. Of course, China wasn’t the only country with the oppression of the LGBTQ community but being gay in China was a whole different package than being gay in a European country or the USA. Most of the time, homosexual people got into heterosexual marriages so their families and friends wouldn’t find out. LGBTQ communities were basically non-existent and if there was one, the government sure knew how to shut them down sooner or later, with the founders getting locked away only god-knows-where. The notion that bi- and homosexuality was a choice and a bad thing to do was still present in the heads of a lot of Chinese people. In fact, it was only in the year of 2001 the government had officially stated that homosexuality was no longer considered a mental illness. China obviously still had a long way to go.

Yixing tilted his head, then he signed:

_“No. The only thing I find weird is how you can find women sexually attractive, but who am I to judge?”_

It took Yifan a moment to realize what that actually meant.

“Wait. Are you telling me you’re gay?”

_“What are the odds, right?”_

Yixing shrugged his shoulders with an apologetic smile, then finally turned to his painting, as if the whole thing wasn’t a big deal and not even worth an ongoing conversation. Yifan’s heart skipped a beat in excitement. The only other gay person he knew was Luhan – and of course, sometimes they’d stroll around the gay clubs and bars around the Sanlitun area, but ever since Yifan moved to Beijing, he had never found a guy that he genuinely liked. Sure enough, there had been One Night Stands and short relationships with girls from his classes, but he’d rather not think back on either one. But this changed everything.

“Yixing, my dear!” he chirped, got up and hovered over to the other one who sighed when he noticed Yifan moving and turned back to him.

When Yixing saw Yifan’s wide smile mixed with just a little bit of naughtiness the artists stated:

_“We’re not in that kind of stage yet, Yifan.”_

Yifan’s face fell in disappointment but then gave up. It had been meant to be more of a joke anyway.

“I guess you’re right. What are you doing exactly?”

He stepped behind the smaller one to get a glimpse of Yixing’s work. Yifan did not have any sense for art so Yixing could’ve painted the whole canvas blue and stated that this was a true masterpiece and Yifan would’ve believed every single word. So when he saw the project, his jaw dropped.

“What the heck, Yixing.”

It was the painting of the Forbidden City’s bird’s view from a few weeks back. There were so many details that Yifan leaned in a little closer to examine the structure of the roofs, that Yixing had brought on the canvas. The most striking feature where the colors because they did not match the reality at all. Not even the trees had been painted in green tones – and it looked absolutely amazing.

_“I got new paint and I just wanted to experiment with the colors it’s nothing special.”_

“Nothing special?! Are you kidding me?!”

_“No, really. I did not even put in a lot of effort; the vanishing point isn’t even accurate. I’m not very good with architecture.”_

“Yixing, stop it. This is amazing.” Yifan turned his head towards him, and then he added, “You are amazing.”

For a second, Yixing stared at him in shock, but then he replied:

“Wooooooow, you are very desperate for sex!”

It was the way Yixing had spelled ‘sex’ and the way how sarcastic his voice had sounded that made Yifan burst into laughter and Yixing joined in. When Yifan had finally calmed down, Yixing put down his pencil and stated:

_“I’m going to wash off the paint. Make yourself at home.”_

Yixing’s arms looked like they had to serve as his artist palette – they were covered in paint starting from his wrists and ending around his elbows. Since the paint wasn’t completely dry, Yixing held his arms in a 90° angle away from his body to not get anything on his shirt as he went to the bathroom. Yifan plopped down on the couch again and stretched out his long feet. After a view minutes, Yixing got back and sat down next to him.

“What now?”

_“I don’t know you’re the one who came in so early.”_

“You know. Two hours are more than enough.”

The taller one wiggled his eyebrows in a way he thought was sexy, but Yixing just snorted at the sight and slapped a pillow into his face.

“I said: Not there yet!”

“Okay, okay, I give up.”

And this time, he really did. Yixing and Yifan started to talk about their day and made plans for coming Friday. Since it was too cold to get out anyway they had decided on getting Indian take out and watching a movie (Yifan was surprised Yixing had suggested that, if he was being completely honest). And suddenly, the clock struck seven.

 _“Oh, we need to get going,”_ Yixing stated.

Yifan groaned. He didn’t really know why he was having such a bad feeling about the evening. This was all Suho’s fault.

“We don’t really need to go, you know,” Yifan started a last-minute maneuver to convince Yixing of not going.

_“We said we’d come. Don’t be such a baby.”_

“Ugh, fine. But my friends are loud and annoying. And stupid.”

Yixing pulled Yifan up and said:

“Good. Then they’re just right for you.”

Yifan’s mouth dropped.

“You are such a cocky bitch!” he exclaimed but Yixing just gave him a big dimpled smile, unarming Yifan immediately.

_“Let’s go. If we don’t like it, we can still leave.”_


End file.
